The present invention generally relates to a network resource reservation control method, a network resource reservation control apparatus, a receiving terminal, a sending terminal, and a relay apparatus and, more particularly, to a network resource reservation control method, a network resource reservation control apparatus, a receiving terminal, a sending terminal, and a relay apparatus that are constituted so that both of the sending terminal and the receiving terminal can independently establish predetermined unidirectional or bidirectional virtual connection.
In building an IP (Internet Protocol) network by use of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode), how to transmit connectionless IP packets by virtual connection (hereafter appropriately referred to as VC) of ATM, a connection-oriented technology, presents a problem to be solved.
Conventionally, RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol) and ST-II (Stream Transport Protocol-II) are available as protocols for making a reservation of network resources such as virtual connection. RSVP allows a receiving side to establish connection while ST-II allows a sending side to establish connection.
However, in RSVP and ST-II, the establishment of connection can be made only in a unidirectional manner by either receiving side or sending side, sometimes causing a problem of inefficient connection establishment.
Further, RSVP and ST-II present another problem that resource requests from sending side to receiving side and vice versa cannot be made independently.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to allow both of the sending side and the receiving side to efficiently establish connection in various methods.
In carrying out the invention and according to one aspect thereof, there is provided a network resource reservation control method comprising the steps of: sending a message composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the fist direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction; and reserving the resource requested by the second information in the direction specified by the first information of the message sent in the sending step.
In carrying out the invention and according to another aspect thereof, there is provided a network resource reservation control apparatus comprising: a sender for sending a message composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction; and a resource reserving system for reserving the resource requested by the second information in the direction specified by the first information of the message sent by the sender.
In carrying out the invention and according to still another aspect thereof, there is provided a receiving terminal having a sender for sending a message to the sending terminal, the message being composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction.
In carrying out the invention and according to yet another aspect thereof, there is provided a sending terminal having a sender for sending a message to the receiving terminal, the message being composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction.
In carrying out the invention and according to a different aspect thereof, there is provided a relay apparatus comprising: a relay for relaying a message composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction; and a resource reserving system for reserving the resource requested by the second information in the direction specified by the first information of the message relayed by the relay.
In the network resource reservation control method and the network resource reservation control apparatus, a message is sent composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction. A resource requested by the second information is reserved in the direction specified by the first information of the sent message.
In the receiving terminal, the sender sends to the sending terminal the message composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction.
In the sending terminal, a sender sends to the receiving terminal the message composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction.
In the relay apparatus, the relay relays the message composed of first information for specifying, as a direction in which the resource reservation is performed, one of unidirectional communication in which the resource reservation is performed in a first direction from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal, a second direction from the receiving terminal to the sending terminal, or bidirectional communication in which the first direction and the second direction are combined, and second information for independently requesting resources in the first direction and the second direction; and the resource reserving system reserves the resource requested by the second information in the direction specified by the first information of the message relayed by the relay.